A Door to the Stars
by Laura of Maychoria
Summary: As a child, Takashi Shirogane had a fascination with doors. He always had a feeling that one day he would open a door, and the stars would be beyond the threshold. And one day, he was right. A fic for the Voltron Gen Mini Bang with art by xblackpaladin.


**A/N:** Many thanks to xblackpaladin for collaborating with me on this project. This was a reverse bang, so the art came first and then the story. I hope I did justice to his concepts and design.

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Takashi didn't notice the door at first. He lived in a house full of doors, after all. Every wall could become a door. It was one of the charms of living in a traditional Japanese house.

When he was very small, he loved following his mother around while she cleaned the house. She would push back every door-wall, opening up the entire house to the fresh spring air. It blew through the house in waves of scent and sensation, and Takashi closed his eyes and breathed it. He smelled the cherry blossoms, the pine from the woods behind their house, the short-cut grass in the lawn.

He felt grounded, anchored to the world. Such moments reminded him of who he was and where he came from. Though he wasn't able to articulate this feeling in words when he was small, he recognized it, knew what it was. It was safety. It was home. It was his mother's arms, her sweet smile, the whiff of her perfume.

Takashi loved the Earth. He loved his home, and he loved being grounded by the scents of nature. But it wasn't what he longed for.

No, Takashi longed for the stars. In the daytime, he followed his mother around the house and saw her open all the doors and let the world in. At night, all of the doors were closed, and he curled up in his futon and closed his eyes and ducked under the covers. There, all he could smell was himself, fresh and clean from his bedtime bath, the scent of sheets and stuffing. He dreamed about opening a door and finding the stars behind it.

It was a recurring dream, that one of finding the stars behind a closed door. It was so strong and vivid that sometimes during the day, still dozing and half-dreaming, he would wander to a door and pull it open, then blink in surprise when the other side was a closet, or the outdoors, or just another room. Sometimes his mother looked up from her cooking with a gentle smile and asked him what he wanted, or his father greeted him from the entryway with a tired expression and a shake of his head.

So Takashi wasn't surprised, exactly, when one day he opened a door and it wasn't the ordinary world on the other side.

(xblackpaladin)

It wasn't stars, either. It was something else, something in between. Takashi stared into the void, leaning forward with his eyes widening. His bare feet inched up to the threshold until he stood at the very cusp of crossing over, his toes wiggling on the tatami mat. What was this? What was he looking at?

It was like an endless twilight. The sky was dim, and the ground stretched on forever. Rolls of mist swept over the landscape, and a breeze ruffled Takashi's hair. A cool scent met his nose, a chilly damp like the smell outside right before dawn on New Year's, when his parents took him to the temple early in the morning before anyone else was up.

As he stared and stared, closer and closer, heart beating wild, Takashi began to see more details in the dim, cloudy space inside the door. There were... Yes. There were stars in the sky. There were, there definitely were. They were faint pinpricks, barely visible.

They beckoned him as surely as his mother's voice, calling from another room. He wanted to go to them. He wanted see them better. He had the feeling that if he walked through the door, if he dared to get closer, he would be able to travel directly into those stars. He would be able to reach them, touch them, know them as no human in history ever had.

A sound reached him from the twilight expanse. There was a thud, a dragging. The sound of something huge, something immense, moving just outside the limits of his vision. Takashi strained his eyes, leaning forward until he almost toppled onto his face. He could almost see it, there in the mist, he could almost, almost...

He gasped, pulling back with a little hop of his feet. Something enormous was out there, something as big as Godzilla. He got the impression of a wall of black, the groaning of gigantic metallic joints, and the gleam of a yellow eye. His heart was racing, thundering in his throat. A monster was out there in the great stretch of stars. It was waiting for him.

Takashi wasn't frightened. He should have been. He was old enough to know that he should be scared of something like this. Bad things waited out in the dark, wanting to snatch up little boys and take them away from their mothers. But Takashi wasn't afraid.

He was excited.

So he crossed the threshold. He went through the door and stepped into another world. It didn't feel strange at all. He just felt like he was moving into another part of the house, as if he was passing through any other door.

He almost expected the surface under his bare feet to feel cold. It seemed so misty and dark in here, surely it would be like moving into a fog. But the ground didn't feel cold and hard. It almost felt like nothing at all, spongy and insubstantial. And warm. It was warm.

The entire place felt warm. For a moment he had the image of traveling through the vein of some great beast, burrowing under the skin and traveling toward the heart. Not in a gross, mean way, though. This giant beast was welcoming him. He was at home here.

Takashi looked around, trying to take it all in. The landscape of starry mist around him shifted with each step, the same and yet different at the same time. He could tell that he was making progress, but he couldn't tell how. It didn't seem to matter, though. He knew he was going somewhere, somewhere important, and that was enough.

For some reason he never even considered looking behind himself. He never thought to check that the door home was still there.

Takashi walked into the stars, surrounded by stars, on top of stars. It was like moving through water, but the water was stars. Big ones, little ones, all different colors, all floating in a hazy, misty murk of liquified starlight. He didn't know where he was going, except further into the stars, and it was what he wanted. It was what he'd always wanted.

Then, suddenly, he realized that he wasn't alone. Besides the enormous bulk of something huge shifting slowly somewhere in the mist, he heard a voice. Someone panting, low and pained. It sounded like a large man, a deep voice rumbling in a barrel-sized chest. Takashi's footsteps halted, a jolt caution flashing through him.

What if it was someone bad? Anything could exist out in the stars. That was half the reason Takashi wanted to go there. There could be good things, bad things, anything. Part of Takashi's excitement about space was because he knew danger was out there too. It made it all the more thrilling to think of going, exploring and finding new planets and maybe seeing aliens, knowing that bad things could be lurking too.

A huff of air sounded somewhere far above Takashi's head, like an enormous creature breathing out as it settled down for a rest. The mist moved, swirling around him, and a warm breeze combed through his hair. The ground trembled gently as the gigantic creature settled down. It was nearby. Takashi had the image of a huge housecat settling into a loaf shape with paws tucked under chest and tail coiled tightly around its body, eyes narrowing in contentment. His fear faded almost instantly in the warmth of that presence. Even though he couldn't see the cat, the creature, whatever it was, he knew it was there.

The other voice sounded calmer too, the large man panting in pain. His breath settled as the huge cat-creature settled, as if he found it just as soothing as Takashi did. Takashi's feet took him nearer to that sound, almost without thought. Curiosity drove him, now, the fear entirely vanished. He wanted to know who was here with him.

The mist parted, trailing against Takashi's cheeks as soft and gentle as his mother's fingers. He passed through it, barely noticing as he moved through another open door. This was not a door in a house, though. It was more like the opening of a cave. A crack in a stone wall. Takashi trailed his fingers along the cold stone as he moved, felt the warm brush of air, the movement of the starry fog at his back.

He was somewhere else now. A forest cave, dimly lit, with vines hanging from the ceiling and the sound of rushing water nearby. Takashi blinked at the sight thus revealed. There was a man sitting with his back against a wall. He was wearing armor, black and white, his helmet by his side, his hands braced on the ground at his sides to hold himself up. A fire burned gently beside him, illuminating the strangely colored walls.

And his face... Takashi felt his eyes going wide, then wider. That wasn't a human face. His mouth split his head almost in half, no lips, something like fangs sticking down from the top half. A tuft of fur stuck up on the top of his head, and his eyes were yellow, his skin purple.

It was an alien, a real life alien, sitting right there in front of Takashi. He was looking back at him with wide eyes, too, seeming just as surprised as he was. For a moment, Takashi reeled, and everything turned dim as he felt his body starting to topple over.

This is a dream, he realized suddenly. He moved his right foot, catching himself in a solid stance and halting his incipient fall. His head swirled dizzily, then cleared abruptly. He didn't faint. He couldn't faint. It was a dream

This wasn't real. He was sure of it, absolutely and without question. So it was okay, the stars, the alien man, the enormous creature he still felt breathing behind him. Everything was okay, because if he got hurt he would just wake up in his futon.

He must have gotten tired of exploring the house and went and laid down in his room for a moment and drifted off, and this whole thing was just a very, very strange dream. The door, the walk into nothingness, the certainty that he was somewhere else, somewhere different. All a dream. Nothing to be scared of.

Confident now, Takashi took another step forward, looking the big man up and down. He saw that his armor—his uniform?—was torn over his stomach, and a shiny fluid coated his exposed flesh. Blood? Had he gotten hurt?

He looked up at the man's face, silently questioning. The man sat up straighter and squared his shoulders, almost as if he felt Takashi was someone he needed to impress. He laid his hand over the wound, obscuring it from sight, though Takashi still knew it was there. Still, he did the polite thing and looked at the man's face instead.

"Hello." He took another step closer, then stopped just outside of where the man could grab him. It might just be a dream, but Takashi still didn't want to get hurt. He didn't want to wake up yet. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

The big man looked at him, breathing slowly and carefully. "Who are you?" he asked, wonder in his voice. "How did you get here?"

"I came through the door. My name is Shirogane." It was polite to give your last name to strangers, right? Takashi was still learning about etiquette.

"Shi...Shiro...gah nay?" The man repeated slowly. "Your name is Shiro?"

Takashi hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, you can call me Shiro."

"What door did you come from?"

Takashi pointed back behind himself, sending a brief glance that way. "Back there. A door in my house opened up into space, so I decided to come explore. I love space."

The man smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice. "I do, too. So many possibilities out here in the stars, aren't there?"

"Yeah." Takashi was feeling more comfortable now. He knelt on the ground and folded his hands neatly in his lap. "May I ask your name?"

"My name is Zarkon." He gestured back toward the door Takashi came through. "You must have met the Black Lion."

"The Black Lion?" Takashi's eyes widened, and he looked back. He couldn't make out the huge mass waiting in the mist, but he saw shapes, sticking out in strange places. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Maybe it really was in the shape of a lion, but if so it was huge, the hugest lion Takashi had ever seen or heard of.

The great presence behind Takashi shifted, and Takashi heard something that could have been like thunder, laughing. It was deep and terrifying and full of affection, and Takashi went stiff with sudden alarm.

"Now, now, don't frighten the cub." Zarkon wasn't speaking to Takashi now. He speaking to the great creature. "You brought him here, after all. There's no need to break his mind."

The voice rumbled. Takashi couldn't take it in. After a moment, he had to look back to Zarkon's face, to something much closer and more easy to grasp. "The...the Black Lion brought me here, Zarkon-san?"

Zarkon nodded. "He must have. He's the only one who can open up the way to the place you traveled through. He might not have done it on purpose, though." He sighed and leaned back against the wall, letting his hands fall limp in his lap. "We were both in a very tough fight and had to flee. Black opened a number of doors, we were in such a panic, and I dashed through the nearest one. A door to your home might have been opened by accident. We are very sorry for the trouble."

The huge voice grumbled, and Zarkon chuckled. "Yes, we are. Don't be rude." His voice had a touch of sternness, which was almost hilarious. Takashi had never seen something scold a skyscraper before.

Takashi blinked rapidly. "But why... Why would a door open to me? If, if you were trying to escape from something that was scary to a big huge lion, my house wouldn't be safe, either."

Zarkon tilted his head. "Well, that is a question, isn't it? Black must feel some sort of connection to you, for some reason. Or he will in the future, perhaps. You are only a cub where you are right now, but the Black Lion can open doors in both time and space. You must be someone who is important to the Black Lion, or to the universe. Or you will be. Are you a king or a son of a king? Do you rule a planet or a solar system? Is your family powerful in politics or the military?"

Takashi gaped at him. "N...no. Not at all! I'm just a normal boy. My family is normal too."

Zarkon shrugged. "Then it must be something that will happen in the future. Don't worry about it for now." His voice was very kind. "You probably won't remember this very well later. It will all seem like a dream."

"But it is a dream, right?" Takashi moved closer on his knees, eager for the answer. "When I first came through the door, it all felt so real, but then when I saw you, I knew it couldn't be. None of this is real."

"It's real," Zarkon said gently. "But don't worry about it. Why don't you tell me where you came from? It will us pass the time until it's safe for us to go back through our doors."

Takashi pulled in a breath and scooted closer. "I'm from a country called Japan. On a planet called Earth. You're from somewhere else, aren't you, Zarkon-san?"

"I am the king of a planet called Daibazaal. I am also the leader of Voltron, the Black Paladin. I command the Black Lion."

Takashi nodded solemnly. None of those words meant anything to him, but Zarkon said them as if they were important. It was always best to be respectful of adults, even when you didn't understand exactly what they were saying.

Zarkon shifted, then hissed and pressed his hand to his stomach. More shiny fluid coated his fingers. Takashi winced and leaned forward, trying to see. It was gross and scary, but he also felt bad for Zarkon. He felt an urgent need to help, beating in his temples.

"Can I help you bandage that up? Do you have a first aid kit?"

Zarkon made a face that Takashi couldn't quite interpret. "There's nothing you can do for me, child. Don't worry about it."

The Black Lion rumbled again, and he sounded displeased. Zarkon winced, and Takashi cast a nervous glance upward. Then he looked back to Zarkon and moved closer, unable to stay away. "Please. There must be something I can do."

Zarkon sighed and gestured to the side, where a little box was sitting on the ground. "There are some supplies in there. I was working on getting it open before you came, but my fingers are stiff. If you can get it open, I would appreciate it."

Takashi looked at Zarkon's hands and saw that his fingers were shaking. He nodded and turned to the little box. It was about the size of an encyclopeida, and he picked it up and turned it over, looking for a latch.

After a moment, he found a little indentation on one of the sides. He pressed with his fingers, not sure what he was supposed to do. At first, it didn't seem like it was working, but then the top popped open. Takashi stared down into the box, his mouth and eyes open wide. He'd never seen a first aid kit like this one before.

He looked at Zarkon. "What am I supposed to do?"

Zarkon gestured toward the box. "Get the flesh stabilizer. It will be a device about the size of your hand, with buttons at the top and a readout below. It should be on top of the other supplies."

Takashi dug through the box. He could feel himself glazing over, unable to recognize anything. He didn't see a device with buttons, but after some searching he found something else. It looked like a bandage, though oddly shaped, with little tabs on the end. He held up, grinning half in triumph, half in relief.

"Zarkon-san! Will this help?"

Zarkon tilted his head. "Well, that's a flesh seal, not a stabilizer. But yes. It will help."

"Like a bandage, right?" Takashi set the first aid kit on the ground and moved closer to Zarkon, holding the flesh seal out for him to take. "I know what a bandage is, though I've never seen one like that before."

Zarkon snorted, though not in a mean way. "Yes, like a bandage."

He took the seal with one hand, the other still holding his stomach. He bent his head to look down at himself, trying to manuever the seal to the gash as he simultaneously tried to hold it shut with his other hand. The slashed material of his uniform was getting in the way, though. Takashi bit his lip, watching with his hands clenched over his knees.

After a minute, he couldn't stand it anymore. He jerked forward, hands reaching out. "Here, let me help. Please, can I help?"

Zarkon grunted, not sparing the energy for words. Takashi gingerly took hold of the slashed cloth with both hands and pulled it apart so Zarkon could reach his stomach more easily, and he finally was able to press the flesh seal against the wound. It adhered to his stomach with a hiss of air, pressing itself to his skin as soon as Zarkon got it into position. Once it seemed stuck, he pulled on the tabs on both ends of the seal, and in a flash it hardened, stiff and secure.

Zarkon sighed and carefully pulled back his hands, and Takashi let go of the cloth and sat back, worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth. His fingers felt gummy and sticky with Zarkon's blood, and he rubbed them together.

Zarkon looked into his face with a smile. "Thank you, Shiro. That was helpful."

(xblackpaladin)

Takashi smiled up at him. "All I want to do is help."

Zarkon laughed, not unkindly. "Really? Is that all?"

"Well..." Takashi looked around at the alien cave, then waved hand back behind himself at where he'd come from. "I want to see the stars. But I guess I just did that today."

"Of a sort," Zarkon said. "But there are many, many more stars for you to see. Are you sure you aren't meant to be a leader? A king of some kind? I truly can't believe that you aren't meant to be a king."

Takashi squirmed bashfully, pleased by the praise but uncertain what to do with it. "I mean... I guess. Maybe someday. It would be fun to be the leader of a space mission. I would be able to help a lot of people, if I got to go to space with a team."

"You could help a lot more people as a king."

"I guess so." Takashi rubbed his hands on his shirt, feeling the drying blood peel away. He looked up into Zarkon's face. "You help a lot of people, don't you?"

"Yes," Zarkon said solemnly. "Protecting my people is my solemn duty. The Black Lion helps me do that. It is a great honor to be his paladin."

"Maybe someday I'll protect my people, too."

"I have no doubt that you will."

There was a rumble like an earthquake, the ground trembling. Takashi startled in alarm, but Zarkon didn't look frightened. A little displeased, though. He turned his head and spoke into the sky. "I suppose you're saying that the cub must go home now?"

Again that rumble, but this time Takashi wasn't as scared. It was the Black Lion talking. Already, he felt very comfortable with that massive creature.

Zarkon gave him a sad smile. "The door you must go through is still open, but soon it will close. You'd better be going now."

Takashi nodded and slowly clambered to his feet. He was reluctant to go, but at the same time, his feet itched to walk into that bridge of stars again. "Will you be okay?"

Zarkon nodded firmly. "I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern. My teammates will find me soon, and they'll take me home where I can heal fully."

"Okay. If you're sure." Takashi took several steps backward, still keeping his eyes on Zarkon. "I hope we meet again someday."

"I hope so, too. When you are a man, perhaps. I look forward to seeing the king you will become."

Takashi laughed. "I told you. I'm not going to be a king."

"We'll see," Zarkon said neutrally, as if he knew something Takashi didn't know.

Takashi giggled and spun on his heel, racing toward the door. He couldn't wait to find out, either. Just before he passed through, he spun around and waved at his new friend with both hands. "Good-bye, Zarkon-san! I won't forget you."

"Neither will I, little king!" Zarkon called back.

Takashi turned on his heel and plunged into the stars, his body light and his mind full of everything he'd seen and learned. He wouldn't forget, he was sure. Even though it was all a dream, he would impress this in his mind and remember it, and someday when he got to go to space, he would look for the Black Lion and the kind king who spoke to him. He wouldn't forget.

But he did.

The End


End file.
